Another laugh. “No. It's not nearly enough. I’m yourfated fucking mate. I’m sick. And you’re going to leave me again.”
“Maybe we can work something out,” Grieves says carefully. “You can still be ours and we can help you through your heats, so you don’t suffer. We don’t want you to hurt, bubbles.”
My stomach drops at what he’s insinuating, even as part of me jumps for joy at the idea. My omega wants that, wantsher alphas to help us through our heats, to ease the ache, but I understand what he’s not saying, the words he’s dancing around.
“I’ll be yours but you won’t be mine. You’ll tuck me into a cottage in the country, right? Come visit when you get the chance. But in the meantime you’ll be married to Isadora, she’ll be your bonded omega, she’ll bear your children and I’ll be your dirty little secret.”
“Flo-”
I cut my eyes at the prince. “Tell me I’m fucking wrong. You would have everything then right? The perfect noble omega to take out in public and your perfect lowborn whore behind closed doors. Lucky fucking you.”
“No one is calling you a whore,cor mea.” Forsythe sounds exhausted. Like he’s tired of the situation. Tired ofme. It hurts. Badly.
I don’t even know why they came.
My gaze drops to the blanket again. “I won’t do it.”
“We’re talking about your life, Pixie,” Courtland says. “We’re talking about you in pain every day for the rest of your life. We’re your alphas, your mates, you can’t expect us to just leave you here to suffer.”
“You’re not my alphas,” I mutter.
“I beg to differ,” Sythe starts, but I cut him off again.
“You aren’t my alphas and you aren’t my mates. You made sure of that when you rejected me. I refuse to fall back into your orbit just because you feel guilty that your actions made me sick. So, just in case you have any doubt, this ismerejecting all ofyou. Every single fucking one of you. I don’t want you. I’ll never want you again. Not if you can ask me to be hidden away forever, to accept being your mistress while you bond another omega.” I make sure to meet all of their gazes as I say the words.
I hope they all get sick too.
I hope they vomit when they try to touch Isadora.
I hope they experience painful ruts and body aches and migraines.
I hope they can’t see that every word from my lips is a fucking lie.
I give them a simpering smile, one that feels similar to the one that Sythe gave me in front of countless cameras and the filming crew. “You are anamazingpack. I have enjoyed my time getting to know you… sort of. And I know you’re going to make Isadora very unhappy someday. But unfortunately, you are not my pack. Now kindly fuck off.”
Episode 12: Kissed Awake, Still Furious
Kindly fuck off.That’s what she says after rejecting us.
I can’t even blame her.
We did the same to her. We turned her into this pale shadow of herself. She’s doing a good job of hiding how in pain she is. But every time she moves, there's a wince, a flinch. She’s hurting and we did that to her. We need to fix it.Ineed to fix it.
And there’s only one way for us to do that.
“No,” I say, denying her.
“No?” she mouths back at me, soundlessly.
I shake my head and move to the foot of the bed, the one that smells like her, like us. Our pack, altogether. Even tinged with sickness and pain, I want to bottle it up and carry it with me always, so I can always remember what home should smell like.
“No, Florence, we will not fuck off.” I lean down and grip the wood of the footboard, pinning her with a hard look. “No, we will not leave you here sick and in pain. Whether you want to admit it or not, being around us helps heal you. You areconscious and your fever broke because Piers and Courtland held you while you slept. You were able to put food in your belly because Thayer sat next to you while you ate. You may fucking hate us, love, but you need us.”
She scoffs. “I would rather feel pain every day of my life than to spend another second in any of your presence. Get. The. Fuck. Out.”
“I already saidno,” I clip.
She glares, her pretty kaleidoscope eyes narrowing to points before she sniffs and shrugs. “Fine.” Then she reaches for her phone and I know what her plan is before she even touches it.
